Karen M. Drabenstott
Associate Professor
School of Information
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1092 USA
Voice: (734) 763-3581
Fax: (734) 764-2475
karen.drabenstott@umich.edu
New topic -- "Paying Homage to Library Science"
Many thanks to Boyd Holmes for suggesting and hosting the topic "Nicholson Baker Revisited." I recall the hubbub and fury that this article's publication caused so many years ago. It sure got the library community thinking about the impact of the discarding of card catalogs. Let's thank our guest editor Boyd Holmes for revisiting this topic with us.
Turning now to our next topic, "Paying Homage to Library Science," I would like to introduce David Robert Austen. David was a National Geographic photojournalist for many years, and, thus, a long-time "professional" corporate user of libraries. He hasn't actually left photography and journalism, but he returned to studies and teaching five years ago and completed a BA degree in journalism and an MS degree in information science at Indiana University. Today he is a systems analyst for a firm that develops Web-based resources and Web interfaces for corporate clients who want easier and more widespread but secure access to data.
Please welcome our new guest editor and take part in the discussion.
David Robert Austen
Knowledge Systems Analyst
Information Management and Institutional Research
Indiana University-Purdue University
Indianapolis, Indianapolis IN 47405
Voice: (317) 278-2282
Fax: (812) 825-5102
davidaus@indiana.edu
The Introduction:
Getting the facts before you act in life, and especially in business, can make a big difference in the bottom line. As a working photojournalist, I soon discovered that getting the facts before I got on the plane and went out in the field on assignment could save me days of looking around searching for my quarry, and sometimes avoiding discomfort or even danger. Anyway, I will work from the premise that good information management habits can save a business from untold losses because people will know where to look for information.
The Discussion:
Now that much work in IT is becoming much more like that of a business librarian, I am interested in discovering how IT professionals have adapted and adopted library systems as models for their own systems. And librarians' work is often now very similar to our own responsibilities; on-line catalogs and web resource integration with shelved materials are just two examples.
Business information was once rather limited: papers in files, binders and books on shelves. It was all rather visible, and usually found in rather predictable places, due to generations of tradition in many businesses and institutions.
During about 25 years work in the business of photojournalism - and while learning to use different kinds of computer software -- I experimented with ways to organize what data I had gleaned and that eventually led to my interest in information and library science. I'd like to hear about yours.
I wonder if the act of collecting information from the Web -- and creating one's own online resources -- has encouraged other information computer-using professionals to emulate the work of librarians and adopt library-like systems?
With more and more resources in or accessible through computers, how do you ensure that you and your colleagues or clients can get to the information they want as quickly as possibly? How do you help them to find the right place to store it? The right way to catalog it?
How do you take advantage of multiple points of entry made possible in the digital world? Full-text search? Long file names? Deep directory structures? Word-processing? In databases?
How do you help people to see into your computer systems, to find the collections of digital knowledge that are so much more opaque than books on shelves?
Personally, I encourage my clients to "think like a librarian" as I develop their systems and they use them and redevelop them over the years. Do some of you see libraries as the best model for the organization and representation of knowledge? Another model instead?
Do you establish rules or policies for your clients and colleagues who depend on you to provide some structure? Do you base these on an existing system like the Dewey or the Library of Congress?
Do you think the efficient use of library systems is intuitive to most "degreed" professionals? Do you find that not even IT professionals know where to put information, let alone find it? How do you help colleagues and clients with this? Manage or even enforce this?
What have you been able to do -- with a reasonable effort -- to better understand the thought processes of your end-users?
It might be that library systems are not adequate as models for our own information systems, but are these at least a good starting point? Do you have a better starting point?
You may join the discussion and look over the list of past and future topics.
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